Read-Think-b4-u-Write

The first time you write a rhetorical analysis, it may seem almost impossible, but there are some basic steps to help make it a bit easier. Take a moment and watch the video. It has lots of good tips and strategies for writing a rhetorical analysis. When you start your essay, you need to introduce the writer, subject, audience purpose, and occasion just like you would any time you introduce one person to another. For example, if you were at a BBQ you might say something like, "This is Professor David Whalen, Provost of Hillsdale College, a Liberal Arts school, and we were just talking about an online essay he wrote in response to G.W. Thielman. Thielman published an article stating that colleges and universities should favor STEM education over the Liberal Arts. If you are someone who believes in the Liberal Arts, or in STEM, or anyone who ever has an argument, you would probably be interested in what he has to say." That statement introduces the writer, subject, audi...

Can you be kind to your critics? You betcha...and it is especially important if you want them to listen to you, and if you want your readers to take you seriously. If  you write counterarguments that are weak or insubstantial, all the better to dismiss them and lose ethos to boot. This is especially true if your readers are passionate about your subject. Somewhere along the way you have to take on, and tackle, the strongest counterargument you can think of - and that can be difficult. Daniel Dennett, one of today's best modern philosophers, asks "Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticizing the views of an opponent?” Here's his answer, word-for-word: "How to compose a successful critical commentary:  "1. You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, 'Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.'  "2. You should list any points of agreement (especiall...

When writing a problem/solution essay, your biggest challenge is to get readers to take action. As a writer, how can you accomplish this? Writers must give the problem presence. Authors can get readers to  see and feel  the problem by using anecdotes, startling quotes, stats, photographs and emotional appeals ( pathos ). Writers must appeal to the values and interests of decision makers. Appeal to idealism or how your solution will benefit the decision maker. Appeal to the values of the audience. Show how the benefits outweigh the costs - especially if it's free. What have you got to lose? Writers must overcome people's resistance to change. In order to do that, sometimes you have to emphasize the seriousness of the problem (give it presence). Stress the benefits of solving the problem and the lost potential if no action is taken. Show that risks are minimal and negative consequences unlikely. Writers must predict consequences. Do not over promise. You must persuade ...

Rewriting is the essence of writing well—where the game is won or lost. —William Zinsser This is very true - instructors don't expect everything in the first draft and, in fact, expect what Anne Lammott would call a "shitty first draft." Here is some basic advice when it comes to revising drafts: 1) Revision is NOT just about fixing grammar and spelling.  2) Revision is NOT just about moving some words around or finding every synonym Word has to offer.  3) REREAD the prompt.  Are you answering the question being proffered, or have you gone off on some tangent? Get back on track and revise towards the prompt. 4) Check in with your thesis.  Is this the paper you just wrote, or did you discover a new approach towards the topic as you wrote your exploratory draft?  Make necessary adjustments.  5)  When revising the next draft "think big"....what kind of evidence (stats, facts, quotes, examples) do you need to support ALL of your points? ...

This is a great infographic entitled Psychology of Color - Analysis of Brands Color over at uFunk.net. Remember advertisers are experts at the use of rhetoric and color is just one aspect.  What do you find most surprising to learn about your favorite color?

When writing an argument you cannot ignore the arguments against your position.  You should seek out to identify the most obvious counterarguments and then address those objections in order to convince your readers that your position is valid. In addition, addressing counterarguments adds ethos to your argument by showing that you have thought about other positions and aren't attempting to ignore them.  According to Delmar.edu, "one can acknowledge and even concede a point in counterargument without directly refuting it. For example, in an argument that girls should play competitive sports you might concede a point to an alternative perspective by saying Of course, participation in sports is not the answer for all young women. Competitive sports can be cruel -- the losing, jealousy, raw competition, and intense personal criticism of one's performance. All athletes must learn to deal with these issues.  There are some basic rules when constr...

Project Twins , a graphic design studio, created a visual study of obscure and endangered words. They use bold graphics and visual wit to interpret and represent a collection of strange, unusual and lost words. These are just a few examples, click on the link to see more. After opening the Project Twins site I was instantly struck with tarantism as I viewed graphic words with a feeling of xenization making me scripturient, thus this blog post. What do you think? Can you think of unusual words that could be instantly defined with pictures? Do graphics help you when defining a word? Acersecomic A person whose hair has never been cut. Biblioclasm The practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. Fanfaronade Swaggering; empty boasting; blustering manner or behavior; ostentatious display. Recumbentibus A knockout punch, either verbal or physical. Scripturient Possessing a violent desire to write. Tarant...

People often wonder how (and why) a college professor would assign graphic novels (aka comics) to a college classroom. Well, the folks over at The Best Degrees have provided some answers in their article 9 Graphic Novels That Revolutionized the Comic Industry . Their post is not entitled the "9 Greatest Graphic Novels Ever" (I would then have to argue some of their choices), but rather it is a look at graphic novels that changed the way we look at comics. They include links (click on the pics in Best Degree's post) to some really exceptional analysis essays, essays that anybody writing essays (that's you) should look at as A+ examples of what can be achieved. These are not just book reviews--they go beyond rating comics--they analyze certain aspects of specific texts and critically explore rhetorical strategies you may not have tried before. Best Degrees places Kurt Busiek's Astro City in the number 8 position because of the way it "showed the co...

The World Wildlife Fund's 2012 Living Planet report notes that "we are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide. By 2030, even two planets will not be enough." Rising populations and rising incomes have and will lead to a larger human footprint on the planet. Are we a plague? Ask Agent Smith who tells the captive Morpheus in The Matrix ? "Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure." Yikes! I don't think we need to get that extreme, but how do we balance population while protecting nature? How do ...

For fanboys (and girls) "The Dog Strikes Back" is the best 2012 Super Bowl commercial. What a German auto has to do with a pooch's shaping up is hard to deduce, but this commercial certainly makes an impression on the imbibers at Chalmun's Cantina in the pirate city of Mos Eisley. Volkswagen released an earlier teaser called "The Bark Side" to warm up audiences for the Super Bowl favorite. The German auto maker must have determined that everybody likes dogs and Star Wars , hiring some Jedi Dog Trainers to produce this canine symphony of "The Imperial March" aka "Darth Vader's Theme." Soloists include Chewbarka, Dog Vader, DAT-AT, oh please, don't get started with the pooch puns. And here's last year's Super Bowl commercial to which the bar fly in "The Dog Strikes Back" alludes--"Are you kidding? The dog is funnier than the Vader kid"--Hmmm . . . you be the judge. Star Wars seems to have beco...

According the Mirriam Webster dictionary hubris is defined as exaggerated pride or self-confidence. The key phrase being "exaggerated." BTW, don't ever start a college essay like this, it says amateur hour . . . but I digress. Yahoo Finance recently led with an article entitled " How a Tenacious Summer Analyst Applicant Got Laughed at by Goldman, Morgan, and Everyone Else on Wall Street " that included the following cover letter (in part): I am unequivocally the most unflaggingly hard worker I know, and I love self-improvement. I have always felt that my time should be spent wisely, so I continuously challenge myself ... I decided to redouble my effort by placing out of two classes, taking two honors classes, and holding two part-time jobs. That semester I achieved a 3.93, and in the same time I managed to bench double my bodyweight and do 35 pull-ups. The article goes on to note that the deadline for summer jobs/internships at the coveted BIG financi...

Marxist literary theories tend to focus on the representation of class conflict as well as the reinforcement of class distinctions through the medium of literature. Marxist theorists use traditional techniques of literary analysis but subordinate aesthetic concerns to the final social and political meanings of literature. Marxist theorists often champion authors sympathetic to the working classes and authors whose work challenge economic equalities found in capitalist societies. In keeping with the totalizing spirit of Marxism, literary theories arising from the Marxist paradigm have not only sought new ways of understanding the relationship between economic production and literature, but all cultural production as well. Marxist analyses of society and history have had a profound effect on literary theory and practical criticism. (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Here's a comic example of Marxist literary theory in action: (http://orgtheory.wordpress.com) Speaking of...

When talking about rhetoric, we think ethos (appeals to authority), pathos (appeals to emotion), or logos (appeals to logic). Advertisers are the kings of exploiting rhetoric to get you to do something, from buying cars or fast food to electing a president. Political advertisements often use pathos to scare the electorate into voting for a canditdate who will make things "better." Or, they may rely on hope, the way President Obama did in the last election. Today many political advertisments ask, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" the way President Reagan did in 1984. Constitution Daily has collected the 10 Best Political Advertisements since 1952 . Here's a couple: ’60 – JFK JingleM Candidate: John F. Kennedy, Democrat Did he win?: Yes. Here's an election that turned Kennedy's youth into an asset with the slogan he's "old enough to know and young enough to do." ’64 – “Daisy” Candidate: Lyndon Johnson...

The rhetoric of logos is based on what it sounds like: logic. According to Aristotle it is supported by "proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech [or text] itself." It is the use of argumentation and rational appeals based on facts, case studies, statistics, anecdotes, experiments, logical reasoning, and analogies. Think of toothpaste commercials that claim "Nine out of ten dentists recommend Crust because studies show it prevents cavities." Strong arguments should have a balance of ethos (ethical appeals), pathos (emotional appeals), and logos (rational appeals). Logic often seems like the most convincing element of an argument, but many times the listener has to depend on the ethos of the speaker in order to believe the logos of his or her argument. In other words, you have to take the writer's word for it, whatever "it" may be. McDonald's is not immune to rational appeals. There has to be some logic in our c...

Pathos refers to the emotion or passion a writer evokes in a reader. It involves stirring people up enough to get them to do or believe something. Aristotle didn't much like this form of persuasion. "The arousing of prejudice, pity, anger, and similar emotions has nothing to do with the essential facts, but is merely a personal appeal to the [wo]man who is judging the case." Advertisers and politicians often revert to pathos because it is the only way you will get somebody to put down the remote, get up of the coach, and do something. Advertisers or writers can appeal to higher emotions like our belief in fairness and justice, love, or pity; or they can appeal to our lower emotions like greed, lust, revenge, avarice, and jealousy. Even if you're not a politician or advertiser, think about how you might use pathos in your everyday career to persuade your boss or coworkers to believe or do something you think is important. When is it appropriate to use emoti...

"We believe good men more fully and more readily than others," at least that's how Aristotle defined ethos . Ethos is just one point on the rhetorical triangle and has to do with how people perceive you. As an author, are you competent, fair, and/or an authority on your subject matter? If you want people to believe your premise, or message, you better be. An August 2011 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education asserts that " ethos is the primary mode of persuasion, and one which we neglect at our peril. Reflect for a moment on how you have been persuaded. When you were a student, which teacher influenced you the most? Probably the one whose character and interaction with students you found most appealing. Which publications do you trust the most? Probably the ones with the best brand (branding being our impoverished substitute for ethos )." Branding? Yes, branding, as in advertising. And advertisers are experts at manipulating people using et...

Students often say their high school teachers told them to never use "I" in their papers. I'm not sure I agree, but the problem for high school teachers may be an annoying inundation of "I" constructions, "I think this" and "I believe that" coupled with the uninformed "I" analysis written by teenagers who have been told that they are "entitled to their own opinion." Well, that's just fine, as long as it is an informed opinion and not just an opinion based on some tingling nerve ending. But is using "I" really bad? In the Spring 2011 issue of Inside English Charles Hood of Antelope Valley College asks "Why do Students use "I" Appropriately in Speech and Yet so Badly in Papers?" Here are four kinds of student "I" uses that he found ineffective: The Invisible Man I. That is, there is no human agency in the paper; instead sentences (often fragments) appear out of the et...

Students at CSU don't have to be told that their dollar isn't going as far as it used to when it comes to obtaining a college education. For a larger image click here. According to this graphic, student tuition has risen 106 percent since 1998. Full-time faculty salaries are down 10 percent while administration pay is up 20 to 23 percent. Full-time versus Part-time Most would assume an institution of higher learning would be made up of full-time teachers, but according to the CSU , in 2010 only 35 percent of full-time employees are faculty. In raw numbers the CSU employs 11,227 full-time faculty (teachers) and 20,459 full-time executives/administrators, secretaries, paraprofessionals, skilled crafts persons, and maintenance workers. But the CSU also employs 11,198 part-time employees and most of them are your teachers: in fact, 9,701. Just 1,497 part-timers make up the ranks of the administration and support staff. In other words, part-time instructors m...

Writing a critical analysis is often tricky for college freshman. Instead of writing high school book reports filled with plot summary and description, they are now compelled to write beyond the text -- to "stick his or her neck out." John Trimble reminds writers that "The critic's job is to explain and evaluate --that is, to bring his readers to a better understanding of his subject". But what does that mean? It means you need a top notch thesis statement. Sometimes it's easier to understand what a critical analysis is by looking at examples of good topic questions. Here again Trimble gives some good examples: "How is Hamlet like Horatio--and unlike him?" or "How does King Claudius win over the enraged Laertes?" If you think of comic books like any other piece of literature including Hamlet , you can come up with good topic questions that will lead to a great thesis statement. If we look at Trimble's examples and a...

Writers, politicians, advertisers and graphic novelists all use rhetoric in the same way--to persuade you to do something, believe something, or buy something. To bring readers and/or viewers, around to their way of thinking. Creators can rely on ethos (or authority) to get their message across. When the president gives a speech we listen - he is an authority. In the same way, advertisers often use celebrities to sell products. If I buy Kim Kardashian's makeup, I'll look as great as she does because she's an expert at looking good. There are also experts In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , where a "menagerie" has been brought together to save the British Empire--all because they have some ethos , as strange as it may be. Often times you will see advertisements that offer proof that a product works, or statistics that report customer satisfaction. These are appeals to logic or logos . If studies show that 99 percent of people using XYZ toothp...